A number of well known methods for the production of fluorinated organic compounds utilize reactions in which the fluorine donating compound is hydrogen fluoride. The products of these reactions are difficult to recover because hydrogen fluoride is highly soluble in the fluorinated organic compounds and forms azeotropic and azeotrope-like mixtures with many of these compounds. Therefore a number of methods have been developed to separate and recover organic fluorinated compounds from a mixture of these compounds and hydrogen fluoride.
The known methods include the use of aqueous alkali solutions, glycol, alkaline earth compounds, carbon molecular sieves, distillation, and membranes to facilitate separation. However, each of these methods is disadvantageous in that they are multi-step processes that produce toxic waste disposal problems or require specialized equipment. Thus, a need exists for a separation method that attempts to overcome some of the disadvantages of the prior art methods.